Before and After January
by December
Summary: Everything can change in a sea of white. It was fifthteen years before anyone tried to tell their sfamily's story and the story of the storm that changed them forever. Future fic.
1. Prologue

As part of my quest to break my block on IWAALF, I thought I'd post the first chapter in another multi-chapter story that I'm working on

_**As part of my quest to break my block on IWAALF, I thought I'd post the first chapter in another multi-chapter story that I'm working on. Now, I don't plan to leave a lot of unfinished mulit-chapter stories floating around, but I would really like to get this story told as well. The idea came from a writing challenge to focus on the weather. I don't own anything except the crazy imagination that came up with this rather twisted idea.**_

_**Your thoughts are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.**_

**Before and After January**

**Prologue – Teach-In Weather**

_January 20, 2025_

"Mr. Jameson makes a good argument," the professor told his three hundred person lecture class, "but it's a little too pat. And it actually wouldn't be admissible in a court of law. He actually made a common mistake; I call it the effect of too much television and vid viewing on line. When I was your age, we'd say it was because he watched too much Law and Order. Now I think one should blame CSI marathons and Court Clerk mini-sodes on Google You-Tube.

"Given the little time that we have left today, for next class read chapter eight and be prepared to cite at least one flaw with Mr. Jameson's argument. And be ready, because I will call on you."

The class gave an uneasy laugh because the professor was well known to cold call. In fact, this professor tended to use the Socratic Method a lot, so it was a bad idea to walk into his class unprepared.

"One last thing before you go. As you know, tonight is the fifteenth anniversary of the London Ice Storm of 2010. London, the University of Western Ontario, and many London natives were personally affected by this storm and the havoc it brought in its wake. It has been rightly called a disaster and some ways, we haven't gotten over it. In honor of its survivors and in memory of its victims, the university will have a teach-in panel discussion on the disaster. I am on the panel, along with Dr. Keisha Washington, Dr. Ang Yien, and Mrs. Maria Laposa – so it should be interesting to say the least. It starts at 7pm."

"Dr. Venturi?" a student in the front row asked as she raised her hand.

"Yes, I see your hand Ms. Woodberry. And no, you will not get extra credit if you attend. However," the professor added in a louder voice, "donations will be taken for the LIS-V, the London Ice Storm Victims fund. Anything you can spare is appreciated. I hope I can see you all there. I expect to see you all at our next class meeting. Have a good afternoon."

The young professor shook his head as he watched his student pack up as quickly as they could and sprint from the room. University students and high school students didn't seem so different some days, he thought. That train of thought was alternative to contemplate as he packed up his stuff and walked back to his office. Anything was better than reflecting on the program tonight and the train wreck it could be. The London Ice Storm of 2010 was still a sensitive subject for many, because of their memories and experiences of it. It was a sensitive subject for him, in a way, for that reason. His family was never the same after that storm. Dr. Keisha Washington was from the United States and didn't even come to Canada until years after the storm. In addition, Dr. Washington sometimes had what fellow colleagues called "shock jock tendencies".

He was a little worried about what she might say…and what that might lead to.

Several hours later, the Criminology and Sociology professor arrived at the large lecture hall, which was already pretty full. Walking to the front, he stopped to talk with the university community liaison, Kimberly Cambridge, who was coordinating the event. After acknowledging his colleagues on the panel, he settled into his chair…and tried to settle his stomach. He was feeling a little nervous; he assumed because his contribution to this panel was a personal story, not something in his discipline. The ice storm would always hit him closer to home than most. But overall, his nervousness was minor.

At least, it was minor until he looked back into the crowd gathering for the teach-in. Being wheeled into the back of the room was a very familiar brunette storm survivor. And, of course, her husband was the one behind the wheelchair. They hadn't told him they were coming. He wasn't even sure how they heard about it; he sure as hell didn't mention it. It was hard enough to tell his story – their shared story, if he were more honest – without them looking on.

He must have paled, because Kimberly came over to him. Following his eyes, she noticed what held the young professor's attention. "Your department head didn't tell you, did he?"

"Huh?"

Kimberly sighed. "We decided to invite the general public and the victims of the ice storm to the program tonight. A lot of them took us up on the offer," Kimberly turned back to him, "I take it that you know that survivor? I mean, being a native an all."

The professor just found himself nodding. Yeah, he knew her. He still saw her at holiday gatherings; he had seen her at the party his father and brother threw him for getting his PhD; he continued to see her at various other planned and spontaneous activities over the years. His nervousness level just shot through the roof. How would she take his version of the ice storm? They had never talked about it. Ever.

"Wait," the professor stopped Kimberly as she was about to walk off. "You've invited ice storm victims and you put Dr. Washington on the panel? Dr. Keisha "Controversy" Washington?! How will this not be PR nightmare?"

Kimberly just smiled. "I know Keisha likes to push academic buttons, mainly to make people think. She has read and written a lot in critical race theory, as you know. But trust me on this. She'll be fine in the role we have her. In a lot of ways, I don't think I could have found a better person."

Glancing at her watch, Kimberly nodded. "And on that note, I need to get ready to start this thing. Thanks again for agreeing to talk."

The professor shook his head. He was glad Kimberly was grateful, at least. He was beginning to think this was a big mistake. He wondered if he could slide out the side door before this thing got started. Maybe no one would notice?

His window opportunity disappeared as soon as Keisha walked toward to the podium. He took a deep breath, hoping this wasn't going to be really bad.

"Good evening and thank you for coming to our teach-in in memory of the London Ice Storm of 2010. My name is Dr. Keisha Washington, and I'll be serving as moderator for tonight's event. After introducing our topic and our panelist, each panelist will give a thirty to forty minute presentation. After which, we will open it up to questions prepared in advance for the panelist and from you, the audience.

"As you came in, you noticed green boxes stationed at all of the entrances. Those boxes are for donations for LIS-V, the organization and fund set up for survivors and families of the victims of the ice storms. Anything you can give is greatly appreciated.

"So, onto our topic tonight," here the black woman took a deep breath as if gearing up for something. That caused the young professor and his fellow panelists to hold their breath. "When I was initially asked to moderate this, I figured it was because I am one of the few United States citizens teaching on campus, and, therefore, couldn't possibly know anything about the storm. I also thought people figured that they could use my name to draw a crowd without giving me any room to say anything controversial."

The students and faculty members in the crowd laughed at that. The African-American professor did have a reputation of bringing controversy to almost every panel she was a part of.

"But, as I prepared for this talk, I found out that maybe I was asked to moderate because I was one of the few non London natives to understand what this storm means to everyone in London, from the long time London native to the Western freshman."

Her statement shocked the room into silence, but the young professor did notice that he and the rest of the panel were breathing a little easier. Maybe Dr. Washington wouldn't use the teach-in to make a point.

"You see, as someone from the US, born and raised in an Atlantic costal state, I understand how storms can change your life forever in a heartbeat. My extended family was directly touched by Katrina, a name that will continue to remain huge in the consciousness of citizens of the United States.

"But, more than that. Other storms affected my life, directly touched me in life-changing ways. Storms with names like Isobel and Gaston. Those names, those storms, in part shaped who I am. They changed my family, my friends. Even more minor storms like Bonnie and Andrew have marked me.

"In a way, however, I am one of the lucky ones. The storms that stormed through my life had names. Friends and family often told stories of devastating storms with no names. The blizzard of '96. The ice storm of '98. The winter of '08. The tornado that wiped our town off the map. That summer. That fall. That winter. They explained to me that, in some ways, without a name it was hard to explain the storm's impact to others or to keep it a part of collective consciousness. I could say Isobel and people would have a starting point. Saying "that tornado" or "that ice storm" often, unfairly, made the pain they suffered from their storm less important than the pain I suffered from mine.

"Because of that, because I understand and don't understand what a storm can do, I realized that I was a good person to moderate this panel. Nothing I could say about the ice storm of 2010 would seem valid. I wasn't even in the country in 2010 and, while people and institutions see race, natural disasters do not. There was no way I could add to the conversation, but no one more than me could see the need to have the conversation, while being objective enough to be sure that it stayed a helpful conversation and not morph into something else because of the emotion involved."

The young professor stared at the woman at the podium in shock. He hadn't expected her to be sensitive to the issue or even have any idea why her presence had made people nervous. It seemed like Keisha was much more aware of her surroundings than he'd given her credit for.

"Now, I'd like to introduce our panelist in the order they'll be speaking. First, we have Dr. Ang Yien. A full professor in our Biology department, Dr. Yien comes to us with a varied background, in both academia and in the governmental sector around the environment, biology, and weather. Most important for our purposes tonight, Dr. Yien worked for the Meteorological Service of Canada, or the MSC, from 2009 to 2013. Dr. Yien will share with us information about the storm in the meteorological sense, as a background to what happened over those four days the storm raged.

"Next, we have Dr. Edwin Venturi. Dr. Venturi is one of our newest faculty members in the Sociology department, with specialization in the areas of criminology, symbolic interactionism, and symbolic boundaries. Although his sociological insight is impressive, it is his insight as a London native that he'll share with us tonight. As any qualitative social scientist will tell you, numbers never tell you the whole story. You have to talk with people on the ground to understand a situation. We are indebted and grateful to Dr. Venturi for sharing that insight with us.

"Finally, we have one of most respected historians, Mrs. Maria Laposa. Mrs. Laposa has worked with the London Historical Society for over twenty years. Last week, the society opened an exhibit on the Ice Storm and its continued effect on the city of London, Ontario. Tonight, she'll share with us some of the historical and social impact of the storm we are discussing tonight."

As Keisha finished up her introduction and the polite applause began as Dr. Yien walked to the podium, Dr. Edwin Venturi tried to re-order his thoughts. Tonight he was going to tell his story, their story, the McDonald-Venturi story about all the good, bad and ugly the storm brought.

For the first time in years, he found himself wishing for the practically invisibility he'd had as a middle child. All eyes would be on him tonight, including his…and hers.


	2. Meteorological Moments

Before and After January

_**Hello everyone. This is the next chapter and the last part of the set up before we get to Edwin's story. Thanks for all the reviews that you have left to this point…and I'd love your thoughts on this next chapter. I don't have an ETA on next installments, but I'll try to update this as soon as I can. Thank you for reading.**_

**Before and After January**

By: December

**Chapter 1 - Meteorological Moments**

_January 20, 2025_

She was surprised she was here. When she thought about it, it amazed her that she actually made it through the door.

Okay, she was pushed through the door – even though she could have wheeled herself in – but that wasn't the point really.

The London Ice Storm of 2010. She lived with the storm everyday while living in denial about the storm everyday. Her husband would probably say simultaneously living in reality and denial was something only she could pull off. Maybe, maybe not. But she had. Every day she moved around without walking, the storm was there. But she never talked about the storm. The family never talked about the storms. Her friends quickly learned not to talk about the storm. And she had never gone to anything storm related at all – until tonight.

What was the difference? What made this teach-in special? She thought maybe it was because it was a teach-in at Western. As some of the people around her loved to point out, she was still a keener. University events were about education. And it was also more likely not to turn into some "oh, look at the poor survivors" side show.

There was the family tie to UWO was well. Not that she told Edwin about the event, but he hadn't told her either. If it hadn't taken so much mental energy to come, she might have wondered – okay, maybe worried a little – about that.

"You okay?" her husband asked quietly as he sat next to her and took her hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the woman smiled, but then frowned in slight annoyance. "You do realize that I could have wheeled myself through the door."

True to form, her husband rolled his eyes before he replied, "Yeah, you could have. So what's your point?"

"What's my point? What's my point?" she asked, her voice rising slightly even though she wasn't really annoyed. At least, not annoyed, annoyed. It was sweet of him to do it. He always did it, one of the ways he tried to protect her and show he loved her. The rolling her in wasn't the problem. It was that he never seemed to get why she might want to do it herself every once and awhile when she was with him. "I'll have you know – wait, isn't that…? But he would have told us, wouldn't he?"

The abrupt change in conversation would have thrown other people, but her husband had known and lived with her for years. He followed her eyes and also saw what caused her sudden change in conversation. "Edwin? He's actually on the panel?"

"And he didn't tell us about it."

He husband snorted, "Remind me to have a little chat with Ed after this is over."

"I'm not going to let you intimidate Edwin for kicks."

"Why not? It would be the perfect end to my day, and he'll expect it."

"No."

"You are taking the fun out of this. I mean, I'm at a lecture. I skipped as many of these as I could when I was at university-"

"Please, you did not! We went to the same school, remember? I know too many things to buy your bullshit."

"And here I am on a Friday night at school. This is like school. You are making me do school for you."

"I love you, too, sweetie," she replied.

He probably would have said something in response if the program hadn't started at that moment. She smiled when Dr. Washington introduced herself. Edwin had told some great stories about Dr. Washington at Christmas dinner last month. Her stepbrother really was a great story-teller. Especially when he used his powers for good and not evil.

She was still a little annoyed about the plumber story he told her when he was trying to scare her all those years ago. And she still didn't see the benefits of being scared silly. She just accepted the presence of horror movies in her life. Kinda like she accepted the presence of hockey. She had no problem with the ban on watching football in the house, however.

As she listened to the controversial professor introduce the panel, she had to admit to re-thinking her decision to be there. Mrs. Laposi's discussion of the impact of the story might include that picture that always ran – the one she hated. Dr. Ang's discussion about the storm was bound to upset her husband.

Looking over at the love of her life, who seemed to be paying attention, she had to wonder if she was being selfish. She was accused of it enough in her teen years. And as a teen, she probably was being selfish more often than not. But, in angsting about coming herself, she had forgotten how her husband lived through the storm as well. That he went through her hell with her with an added hell of his own. He never talked about it, but ever since that January he paid attention to the weather. And, although he would never admit it out loud, winter storms made him nervous. Her usually laid back husband would turn almost into a "super keener on a grade grubbing mission" during the winter storm season. One unknowing co-worker had once joked about her husband's latent dreams to be a meteorologist so he could make his name on predicting a huge destructive storm that no one saw coming.

That hadn't gone over very well. And not just because her husband was convinced he should have seen 2010 coming. Or that he should have listened to the misgivings that she and her friend shared that night. Once she had tried to joke that he had said that he tuned her out on a regular basis, why would that night have been different? He didn't laugh. He didn't agree. He didn't have a comeback. He was just silent.

To this day, she didn't know what to do when he or when they got silent. Their default was screaming, her sister was convinced…or so she said often enough. Quiet was usually not a good thing around them.

As Dr. Ang began his discussion on the storm and how the MSC tracked it, she hoped upon hope that he would say the storm was a complete surprise and that it came from no where. She wasn't so lucky. Ang mentioned all the signs that were present, signs the MSC saw and signs they didn't. As the now biology professor continued listing things that should have made the storm obvious, she watched her husband's jar get tighter and tighter.

She sighed and she reached over and squeezed his hand. It was probably telling that his jaw stayed so tight. She almost opened her mouth to whisper something to him, something encouraging she hoped, but then decided against it. She was pretty sure he was already hearing her voice in his head. At least a younger version of her voice saying, "_I don't know. It looks pretty bad out there. Maybe we should go home?_"

Some days she wondered if he was ever going to forgive himself for staying. Like she needed to forgive herself for ending up in her situation. If she hadn't moved…or if she was just a foot to the right of where she was that night….

She blinked as her husband seemed to untense a bit. She wasn't sure why until Dr. Ang's "Thank you," registered in her mind. The former meteorologist was finished. Now they would get to hear what Edwin had to say.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. She never really knew what happened in the house during those days or what happened in the car. No one ever talked about the storm. For all of her…issues with 2010, she had to admit, she was curious. What was Edwin going to say? And why tell no one about the talk? She was sure that her sister would -.

Her sister. Another thing they never talked about it. She had to wonder what Edwin knew and if that could help her understand some things…unearth some things that still seemed covered in ice, even now.

- to be continued -


End file.
